Dementia affecting adults earlier

A RISE in the number of younger people being diagnosed with dementia will be examined by Sydney researchers in the first such study in Australia.

The lead researcher, Professor Brian Draper, of the school of psychiatry at the University of NSW, says early findings suggest as many as one in 750 Australians may be affected by younger onset dementia before the age of 65.

Previously published international data estimated the number at one in 1000 people.

Professor Draper said it was likely that the increase in cases was at least partially a result of the high number of Australians in the baby boomer generation, now aged 48 to 66.

He said younger onset dementia was of increasing public concern because more people were being diagnosed but their needs were not being met by existing services, which are geared more towards older people.

Preliminary research has identified 141 people in the eastern suburbs of Sydney with younger onset dementia.

Those patients had a range of illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, brain infections, head injuries, problems with alcohol, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.